There’s been a lot written this morning about Reserve Strap, an Apple Watch strap designed to plug into the diagnostic port on the watch and serve as a reserve battery.
I love this idea. In fact, if you go back a few weeks, I even proposed such an idea in this post.
But I digress.
Reserve Strap’s clever is the way it overcomes a built in limitation. When you change any strap on your Apple Watch, you have to press a release button, then slide your strap to the side.
Problem is, any strap that wants to connect to the diagnostic port has to have a plug that juts out, which would prevent a strap trying to plug into that port from doing the side-to-side slide.
Reserve Strap proposes to resolve this problem with buttons on either side of the strap that compress the connector, pulling it into the body of the strap. Compress the connector, slide the strap on, release the buttons to allow the connector to jut back out and connect with the diagnostic port. Super clever.
I hope this idea succeeds. If so, it will pave the way for a wave of clever, powered Apple Watch straps.
Note that this is a product in the works. You can preorder on the web site, but there’s no guarantee that they can clear all the hurdles this product faces. And at a price of $249, that’s going to require a lot of faith.
Caveat emptor. Apple doesn’t want users to access that port or they wouldn’t cover it up and leave it out of the manual. Apple can (and probably will) shut these guys down at any moment.
I don’t think I will buy the Apple watch, but if I did, This might be a nice weekend getaway band to prevent me from having to pack my watch charger… I wonder how much extra life it give the watch?
Exactly. If this port is intended for more than just diagnostics nobody is going to be able to use it before Apple does. And then it will be tied to some MFI like program. All I know is I wouldn’t spend money on a third-party accessory let me or may not work and may or may not be safe.
Odd – when you look at the iFixIt teardown, you can see that the port has no connection on the inside. No ribbon cable, no wiring, just a blank cover. Did I miss something?
Yup, step 18, 2nd picture shows the connector.
https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/jHPGP55GDlcvRINf
Ah! Thanks so much. That was easy to miss.
3) that bit on the bottom of the watch could mess with wrist detection like some tattoos seem to.
Yes there’s a connector cable, but can it deliver power to the battery? Even if Apple is planning for that eventuality, it’s not like them to include the hardware in a device that won’t support it in it’s first iteration. That piece represents money spent on hardware and an extra step or two on the assembly line. Why include it if it’s not going to do anything right now?
Great windfall for whoever is behind this, getting so much attention from big name Apple tech websites. I worry that this is vaporware of the highest order though. Commentary like this puts a little CYA clause at the bottom of the piece, but a lot of people are going to see this on a lot of websites and think there’s some kind of implied endorsement. As far as I know, no one has seen and physical prototypes of this.
It was my impression from reading the linked product announcement that the guys making the Reserve Strap actually tried charging via the diagnostic port before making all this hubbub about it. And if Apple put the hardware in on the final device, I also have no doubt Apple has intended uses for it but simply have not announced it at this time.
Call me crazy, but I’d rather pack my watch charger than plop down another $250.
It might be a worthwhile investment for people who are going camping all weekend (and can’t just plug their devices in), though.
probably not, it’s uses IR to detect your heart beat, the tatts only come into play when the lights don’t reflect enough/properly. green light on green
..still for $249, I’d just get a second watch to use the second half of the day.
for $99 more just get a second watch.
You may be right, but it was my understanding that the watch had to be snug enough for the cameras to touch your skin to work. This band adds a gap that could present a problem.
Even if they don’t block it somehow, I’d bet that opening that port up violates the warranty.
The design with the bit on the bottom seems to have been abandoned, as they’ve moved from inductive charging to using the diagnostic port. Of course, none of these designs are truly final. I don’t have an Apple Watch, but if I did I wouldn’t pay for an accessory that doesn’t even have final functional design, could still end up looking completely different from the current concept drawings, and very well might never come to market.
By the time this thing is available, Apple could be releasing an Apple Watch 2 that isn’t even compatible with whatever charger the Reserve Strap settles on.
I see that now. Of course, that means now only one band with a battery connects to the diagnostic port. When the bands were connected it had two batteries. So they improved wrist detection at the expense of battery capacity.
Also, I have yet to see an Apple Watch review that says the battery ran out. I’m not sure these guys even have a product.
Without a doubt.
Interestingly, the first design is specifically incompatible with Apple’s new “Made for Apple Watch” program, but the second one may not be… yet. Magnetic chargers are specifically ruled out, but the second design doesn’t appear to be magnetic.
I’m sure Apple wouldn’t approve it, of course.
The intended use could be purely diagnostic, though, such as when someone brings it in for support or repair.